“Realizing our empathy in relation to an other often requires that we make new, meaningful, and coherent relationships where there previously were none. This is a process also known as ‘making a bisociation’—in contrast to ‘making an association’—and forms the basis of what we often call creativity.”
-Seung Chan Lim

Inspirations

Empathy

Empathy is so important because what we create is used by humans not computers. Empathy not only applies to the users but to everyone involved in the design process. You have to have empathy for the marketing and business side of things just as much as the user. These people inspired me to really explore even deeper the meaning of empathy and what it means for design.

Seung Chan Lim (Slim) →

Slim's Ted Talk really inspired me, I love philosophy, so hearing him speak about design and empathy together really got me thinking. We always hear that empathy is required for design, but what does that mean besides trying to empathize with people you interview? His book gets you thinking about empathy in a more general sense and I even applied to my current friends and family.

Jon Kolko →

I read his book "Well Designed" and I was amazed by how he talked about design. He really put it into perspective from a project management point of view and talks about the powerfulness and the emotional value proposition.

Psychology

Like I said we are dealing with humans right? It is so important to understand the psychology of people, not only for the design the product but for bringing people together. These people have some really good ideas about how people work.

The Team W →

Team W has some great UX introductory classes online, this is UX from the perspective of a psychologist. I really like thier course Designing for Engagment, where you learn about how people behave. You can also get a lot of the same ideas in her book, 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People.

Daniel Kahneman →

Kahneman's book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" explains how the human mind works about the subconscious vs conscious. The understanding of human bias is a really important part of understanding how people make decisions. A major part of experience design is helping people make the decisions that are best for them to get the optimal experience.

Creativity & Productivity

Denise Jacobs →

Denise is SOOO passionate and loves to talk about how creative people work and think. She also has some great advice for making us our higher selves.

Brendon Buchard →

His motivational videos are inspiring, in fact without him I might not have had the courage or the self awareness to know I needed to leave the PhD program and get into UX. I recommend you watch at least this video. I had to watch it again and again to finally believe that I could have (many) perfect days.